Interview with Toronto Smartphone and Drone Photographer Kanchan Kumar (Community Member Feature)
Welcome to the Tdot Shots Five Questions interview series, where we profile local Toronto area photographers who are part of our community.
Our community member, Kanchan Kumar, is a photographer with a great gallery of Toronto and GTA sights. All of the artists’s images are captured with smartphone and drone. Please consider coming out to the High Park fall photo walk and drone demo with Kanchan on October 30.
Who are you?
My name is Kanchan Kumar, I consider myself an amateur Smart Phone Photographer. In professional front I am a Software Engineer with an IT consulting firm. I reside at Midtown, Toronto and love exploring the city of Toronto after work and on weekends, clicking pictures on my smart phone and my drone.
How did you get started with photography?
In early 2019, I used to click pictures on my smart phone and share it on my personal Instagram handle. One of my acquaintances had then suggested me to start a page exclusive for Toronto and share my pictures there, this is how it all started. Besides this, I was pretty much intrigued by the aerial photography within the City of Toronto where we have massive number of perspectives to shoot, so I got a Drone in 2020. Instagram proved to be an amazing platform where I could learn and enhance my skills of photography along with exploring the city by interacting with other photographers, joining the photo walk sessions and sharing their ideas. The photography community in Toronto is extremely supportive and encouraging, I can proudly say I owe everything to the Photography community of Toronto where myself being just a rookie could learn this art to some extent.
What do you like to shoot and where?
I feel if you like photography and you are in Toronto you will never be starved of content. You will always have a diverse field to explore be it variety of events happening throughout the year, the four seasons with different colors of nature and landscapes, the epic sunsets, the mesmerizing Toronto skyline, the historic architectures and the streets are always there to rescue. I like to cover all these things. I am very fond of colors so sunsets in Toronto, street arts, architectures and the transit appeal to me significantly. Among all these I love clicking symmetry and reflections which I seek in the most abstract way. Currently framing my shots with objects on foreground is something I am really enjoying and exploring further.
What gear do you use?
I have always used smart phones for photography, I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 3A XL. I also have DJI Mavic Mini drone that was the first sub 250gram drone launched by DJI. Now we have numerous upgraded versions available in the same bracket of sub 250gram. The aerial perspective is altogether a different story. The way the City of Toronto is built you would love to see how it looks aerially.
Who are your favorite photographers?
I’ve always been inspired by the work of @smaku , @jgazze , @nicolefsnapshots , @petesphotography5 , @gtanophotography and @peteryu925
Thank you for sharing your insights and passion with the community Kanchan!
Be sure to follow the artist @toronto_explored_by_me on Instagram and comment on the IG interview post.
